Problem Solver updates: Garden or weeds?

Chicagoan Kathy Cummings was once awarded a prize from the city of Chicago for her natural landscape. Recently she was fined over $600 by the city for having weeds in her front yard. (Nancy Stone, Chicago Tribune)

The fight over Kathy Cummings' front yard is not over yet.

The West Town neighborhood resident, once awarded by former Mayor Richard Daley for her natural garden, was featured in the Dec. 30 column after the city fined her $640 for violating Chicago's weed ordinance.

When the column ran, Cummings said she wasn't sure if she would appeal the Nov. 29 administrative law officer's ruling, in part because filing an appeal would cost her an additional $317 in fees.

After thinking about her situation some more, Cummings bit the bullet and filed the appeal.

"We have to appeal it to get closure on my garden but to also bring to light how the regulation is so subjective and making everyone at risk," she said. "When I walk my dog, I see gardens that could easily be ticketed."

She remains adamant that her front yard garden is legal — filled with native plants, including blue aster, sunflowers and papaw trees. The city awarded her first place for naturalized landscapes in 2004, giving her a plaque that she has proudly mounted near her front door.

The same garden was ticketed in October for harboring weeds more than 10 inches tall. The $640 fine was levied by the hearing officer in November, after deciding some of the plants in her yard are weeds.

She won't be fighting the ruling alone.

After telling her story on a local radio show about gardening, several listeners called in and pledged to pay at least some of the $317 filing fee. Cummings said she isn't sure how much money others will pitch in.

Several people also have offered pro bono legal help, but so far no one has agreed to represent her in court, she said.

Cummings said she has no idea whether she will prevail in court but figured she had to try. No court date has been set for the hearing.

The Problem Solver will provide updates.

Electricity fix

The mix-up over David Wilhelm's electric service apparently has been straightened out.

Wilhelm, originally featured in the Dec. 11 column, had been paying for someone else's electricity for more than a year but could not get ComEd to fix the problem.

In an update published Dec. 27, Wilhelm said ComEd had finally switched him to the right meter and told him he had been erroneously charged for 1,670 kilowatt-hours of electricity.

At that time, ComEd was crunching the numbers to see how much money the utility owed him as a refund.

The Rogers Park neighborhood resident said recently that ComEd called and told him he will receive a $150 credit on his account. Wilhelm said he also hasn't paid his bill for the past several months as ComEd worked to straighten things out.